Monday, May 12, 2014

I recently left my day job, and I am excited to have more opportunities to be with my kiddos, and to do what I really love - SEW! I've got a bunch of projects lined up for myself, but to make ends meet a little better, I have revamped and re-opened my Etsy shop.

I have been having a lot of fun making these sweet Geranium dresses (pattern by Rae Hoekstra of Made by Rae). Currently I'm taking orders for sizes newborn - 5T. I have the expanded pattern for sizes 6-12, but haven't listed these items yet, so email me if you're interested in ordering one of these larger sizes.

These dresses make a wonderful baby shower gift, and they're perfect for summer! They're made out of 100% cotton, and are very lightweight and cool for hot weather.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Last week I placed an order from an online fabric store, and they ended up not having the amount of fabric I ordered (I understand how it happens, but it's frustrating). So, I had to get some of Lizzy House's Catnap line instead. I ordered a half yard of Kitty Dreams in White and a half yard of Purrfectly Happy in Cream.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the Kitty Dreams (on the left) - it's a really fun fabric, and I want to use it in just the right project! I'm thinking a dress for Audrey, but I don't want to decide too soon!

I whipped up this little elastic skirt for Audrey this morning from the Purrfectly Happy. It's very simple, just a rectangle closed with a french seam to reduce fraying, and then a simple elastic waistband.

Getting a good picture of this skirt was more difficult than actually making it! I'm telling you, this girl does not sit still unless she's sleeping or her brother is giving her a kiss.

I've been keeping myself busy lately, doing a lot of sewing! I made a few dresses for Audrey using the geranium dress pattern by Rae Hoekstra of Made-by-Rae, and was inspired to do more, so I ordered a bunch of fabric and got busy.

I don't know why this is what she had to do while wearing her pretty dress, but she's a silly little thing. And the underpants are clean - don't worry!

I finished my first set of dresses to sell, purchased a license to sell them, and listed them on my Etsy shop: Joy In The Stitches.

Then I got my first two orders - I have lots and lots of sewing to do in the next two weeks!

I would love it if you would go check out my Etsy shop, and also look me up on Facebook! I also have three dresses for sale at Bare Necessities, an adorable children's consignment store in Hermiston. If you're local, you should go in an look at them! It's one of Micah's favorite places to go, and I always find something nice for my kids at a reasonable price.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Yesterday I started working on a crochet project - the Sunburst Granny Square Crochet-Along on Instagram. It's really fun so far - I've made 36 aqua magic circles, and 2 of them have the puff stitch ring on them - I intend to do a 12x12 afghan, so it's probably going to take me a long time! I'm thinking it'll be aqua, navy and white - maybe I'll add another color but I'm not sure yet.

This morning I stitched up a little zipper bag to hold my granny squares, yarn,crochet hook and scissors. This way I can take this project along with me in the car sometimes. For the bag, I used scraps that I had from other projects, and I really love how it came together!

For the top half, I sewed up a herringbone pattern with 2" strips of scraps. The majority of the scraps are Bijoux by Bari J, but there are a few others in there too - including a solid gray, Joel Dewsberry Herringbone in aqua, and the pink nests fabric, which you can barely see, is by Sarah Watts. The floral that is in the center is one of my last scraps of NW Washington Shop Hop 2004 fabric, which is very sentimental to me. I love how it works in well with the other fabrics. The teal fabric on the bottom was leftover from Micah's quilt - which I'll finish some day!

Inside I used one of Bari J's fabrics, Into the Wild, which I recently purchased at Pink Castle Fabrics. I've ordered from there a few different times - I like supporting small businesses, whether in a brick-and-mortar shop or online. I just placed another order for fabric to make some little dresses, and she is having a great sale - 20% off all skinny bolts. I got some of Allison Harris's Wallflowers for under $5 a yard!

I had this zipper in my stash - I love a nice metal zipper. I'm slowly using up some of the supplies my mom had held onto for a long time. This zipper is navy, which I think goes well with the fabrics. Zippers intimidate me, but I think I"m getting the hang of it. This one is a little lopsided, but it was my first time using the zipper food on my machine, so I still think it's good.

This was a fun little project - I didn't use a pattern, but improvised as I went - a little bit of an adventure!

Monday, December 30, 2013

I've been working on a number of Christmas projects in the last couple of months. It sure has been fun to work on projects with specific people in mind!

I started two projects early in November - the first was a dress for my little niece, Anna.

I added a white ruffle at the bottom of the skirt, because it was a little short, but I - of course - forgot to take a picture.

The second was a set of Christmas place mats for my mother-in-law, Barb. I used a variety of Christmas fabrics that I had in my stash. A few were fabrics that I had made our kids' stockings out of, and a few were from my Grandma, who was the first person I knew who quilted.

Each place mat is different, and I didn't use a pattern, but tried to keep them approximately the same size by using 3.5" squares. I didn't get a picture of them all bound and finished, but they turned out pretty well, and my mother-in-law was able to use them all throughout the Christmas season!

I also made a few hot pads for my mother-in-law to give as gifts to family. Each one is made with scraps, and I had fun playing with some free motion quilting on them - they're all different!

Two weeks ago, I finally bought Made by Rae's pattern for the geranium dress, and I'm in love! So far I have made four dresses and a top, and I'm excited to make more and more! I ordered some fabric from Bari J's line, Bijoux, from Hawthorne Threads for a special project, and while I was waiting for it to ship from the East coast, I found a yard of fabric that belonged to my mom and whipped up my first dress for Audrey.

I was a little intimidated by the button holes in this dress, but I figured out how to do them on my sewing machine, and it was easy-peasy! No problem at all!

And then, when my fabric came (they actually ship really quickly, but I'm not very patient!) I had enough extra after cutting out my patterns for a secret project, that I could also make a little geranium shirt for Audrey.

(David said this doesn't really look like Audrey, I think because she's sitting still, which doesn't happen all that often.)

It's been really fun to do all this sewing this holiday season, but I still have one more project to finish- it should be a quick and easy one though. :) Last night I finished a big project - one I can't share yet. It sure feels good to get things finished. And Audrey's excited too!

She's been sick this week, so it's good to see her smiling big like this, even though she's still a little sleepy.

Friday, October 25, 2013

I finished this quilt early this year - it's one of the first full quilts I had finished in a couple of years. I made it for a friend's baby girl, (gender unknown at the time), and it's truly one of my favorite quilts I've made thus far. The colors of their nursery were gray and yellow, and I added in the aqua, because it's my favorite color!

I used Allison Harris's pattern, Bizzy Kid, combined with the Maritime Modern fabric line and some solids, all of which I ordered from Hawthorne Threads. I free motion quilted this on my domestic sewing machine, my mom's hand-me-down Pfaff, in a double loop pattern.

This is the first time I've entered a quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival (or any quilt competition), and I'm really proud to be able to enter this one! Thank you for stopping by my little blog, and I hope you liked this quilt!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

There are some gaps in what I've finished recently, and what I've actually posted about recently. In the last few months, I've finished a couple different quilts and smaller projects and forgot to share any pictures of them. We've been a little busy, soccer season is in full swing, but the end is in sight, so hopefully we'll get a better routine going in the next few weeks.

I finished my Scrappy Trip to Ethiopia quilt in September. A family friend offered to quilt it for me, so it flew on down to Georgia, and came back looking so good! She chose circles for the quilting, and I love how it turned out!

This quilt was raffled off for a local family to take a mission trip to Ethopia, and surprise, my mother-in-law won it! I'm pretty excited for her to have it -- it's staying in the family!

Another quilt I've been working on is a small, gray and red one, made of a fat quarter pack I got in a fabric swap a couple years ago. While I was piecing the top of this quilt, a friend's husband was in the hospital recovering for a pretty severe injury. I spent a lot of time praying while I put this one together.

It has such a special meaning to me, because I made it for a friend's little boy, who will be coming to the US very soon from Ethiopia. His adoption is almost finalized, and I am excited for him to use this quilt! Micah and I have prayed for him often, and many many times, so it seems fitting for him to have this one.

For the back I used a gray flannel with white dots, and a red chevron for the binding. The quilting is a scallop design that I did free motion on my Pfaff, and I think it turned out alright. There are some inconsistencies, but it seemed to blend in alright. I need to get myself a good pair of grippy gloves that are solely for quilting, so I can get a better grip on the fabric!

I have also finished a few other fun projects - one is a single Swoon block mini-quilt, which I made for my sister for her birthday. She hung it up in her dining room, by her sewing space. :) I really love this pattern, and I think I'll be making more soon! This picture is from when I was basting, of course, and I did straight-line quilting near the horizontal and vertical seams.

I also made this fun fabric banner for the baby shower I hosted last week -- I think it will live in Audrey's room eventually. At least, after her birthday party. I can't even believe that in 12 days, my baby will be a year old!

Now I need to plan a quilt for her big-girl bed, which she'll move into sometime in the next two years. If I start now, maybe I can get it finished by her 3rd birthday? Maybe.

I've been working on Micah's Halloween costume the last week or so, and I'm excited to share the finished product in a couple of days!